Sinti

History

The Sinti arrived in Austria and Germany in the Late Middle Ages as part of the emigration from the Indian subcontinent, eventually splitting into two groups: Eftavagarja ("the Seven Caravans") and Estraxarja ("from Austria"). They arrived in Germany before 1540. The two groups expanded, the Eftavagarja into France and Portugal, where they are called "Manouches", and to the Balkans, where they are called "Ciganos" (from Byzantine Greek "τσιγγάνος" and "Ἀτσίγγανος", deriving from Ancient Greek "ἀθίγγανος", meaning "untouchable"); and the Estraxarja into Italy and Central Europe, mainly what are now Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, eventually adopting various regional names.

From 1926 to 1973, Pro Juventute, a Swiss children's charity, with the support of Swiss authorities, committed crimes against humanity against the Yenish, Manouche, and Sinti people in Switzerland by forcibly removing children from their families and placing them in foster homes, adoptive families, and correctional institutions through the Kinder der Landstrasse (Children of the Open Road) project. This was part of a wider effort to forcibly assimilate these traditionally nomadic communities into the sedentary Swiss society. In February 2025, the Swiss government formally acknowledged that the forced removals and assimilation efforts constitute a crime against humanity under international law.

The traditional occupations of the Sinti people include musicians, gardeners, waiters, iron pickers, and mechanics. Music plays a significant role in shaping Sinti identity.

The Holocaust

The Sinti migrated to Germany in the early 15th century. Despite their long presence, they were still generally regarded as beggars and thieves, and, by 1899, the police kept a central register on Sinti, Roma, and Yenish peoples. Nazi Germany considered them racially inferior (see Nazism and race), and persecuted them throughout Germany during the Nazi period – the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 applying to them as well as the Jews. From 1935, Sinti found themselves interned in Zigeunerlager ("Gypsy camps").

Adolf Eichmann recommended that Nazi Germany solve the "Gypsy Question" simultaneously with the Jewish Question, resulting in the deportation of the Sinti to clear room to build homes for ethnic Germans. Some were sent to the territory of Poland, or elsewhere, including some deported to the territory of Yugoslavia by the Hamburg Police in 1939. Others were confined to designated areas, and many were eventually murdered in gas chambers. Many Sinti and Roma were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were put in a special section, called the "gypsy camp". Josef Mengele often performed some of his infamous experiments on Sinti and Roma. On 2 August 1944, the "gypsy camp" was closed, and approximately 4,000 Sinti and Roma were gassed during the night of 2–3 August and burnt in the crematoria. The date 2 August is commemorated as Roma and Sinti Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Nazi regime systematically deported Roma and Sinti beggars, including those engaged in street begging, to extermination camps, while simultaneously characterizing the Sinti population as inherently indolent, primitive, workshy and resistant to employment. Robert Ritter was a Nazi racial researcher who labeled the Sinti and Roma communities as a "primitive" race and unable to adapt socially, using this classification to justify their persecution and extermination. The Nazis aimed to eradicate the Sinti people, accusing them of being lazy, unwilling to work, and prone to begging. Eva Justin, a researcher who studied Sinti children, described them as worthless, racially inferior, and lacking abilities except for musical talent. She later played a role in arranging the deportation of Sinti children to Auschwitz.

In the concentration camps, the Sinti were forced to wear either a black triangle, indicating their classification as "asocial", or a brown triangle, specifically reserved for Sinti, Roma, and Yenish peoples.

Culture

A well-known dish among the Sinti is hedgehog stew, which is prepared using hedgehog meat. Gypsy jazz is a style of jazz music that is popular with the Sinti people.

Notable people

• Anita Awosusi (born 1956), writer, musician, activist
• Tayo Awosusi-Onutor (born 1978), singer-songwriter, author, activist
• Ayo (born 1980), singer, songwriter and actress
• Wawau Adler (born 1967), jazz guitarist
• Jakob Bamberger (1913–1989), boxer and activist
• Drafi Deutscher (1946–2006), singer and songwriter
• Lily Franz (1924–2011), writer and Holocaust survivor
• Philomena Franz (1922–2022), writer and Holocaust survivor
• Raymond Gurême (1925–2020), acrobat, activist, and holocaust survivor
• Elisabeth Guttenberger (1926–2024), activist and Holocaust survivor
• Hugo Höllenreiner (1933–2015), Holocaust survivor and public speaker
• Mario Mettbach (1952–2021/22), politician
• Oto Pestner (born 1956), singer, songwriter and politician
• Schnuckenack Reinhardt (1921–2006), jazz musician
• Marianne Rosenberg (born 1955), singer and daughter of Otto Rosenberg
• Otto Rosenberg (1927–2001), writer, activist and Holocaust survivor
• Sido (born 1980), rapper
• Chrissy Teigen (b. 1985), model
• Johann Trollmann (1907–1944), boxer and victim of forced sterilisation
• Häns'che Weiss (1951–2016), jazz musician